Breakfast show host Sara Cox was forced to apologise twice to listeners after the comedian launched his f-word salvo. He was appearing on Cox’s show, alongside Shaggy, to promote their forthcoming single ‘Me Julie’.

Sara Cox asked Ali G, the spoof hip-hop alter ego of comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, if he was annoyed the record had been heavily edited to make it suitable for radio airplay. Ali G replied: “I think it’s outrageous that I can’t say M_O_T_H_E_R fucker on it.”

An embarrassed Cox immediately apologised, cut the interview short and went straight into a record. She apologised again at the end of the track.

Ali G had earlier joked he smuggled weed from back to the UK from Jamaica up his “bum”, adding “I shit it out”. He also said he “knobbed J Lo”.

A spokesperson for Radio 1 said no one on the show was being censured over the outburst. He added that there were “less than half a dozen” complaints phoned into the station over Ali G’s remarks.